While pure acetone is certainly more effective at removing polish, the drying effects are fairly obvious. That nasty white residue and dry cuticles, especially when you use a lot of acetone swatching. This is where acetone additives come in. Many indies make them and they vary a little by brand, but are generally scented glycerin and oils that you mix with your acetone. When mixed properly, the glycerin and oils will stop the drying properties while still removing your polish (even gel) just as effectively.
Acetone Additive: Girly Bits OMG Becky, Look at Her Acetone! Review
Oil and water is a no brainer, they separate. So Make sure to give the little bottle a good shake before adding to your acetone. While I have never noticed the oil on top of my bottle of acetone, I do give it a gentle shake before use to ensure the additive is still mixed in well.
Sizes of acetone additive vary by brand. Girly Bits OMG Becky, Look at her Acetone! is a small 15ml bottle with squirt cap that you add to 250mls (8.5oz) acetone. Here is my problem. The majority of brands of acetone in Canada are not 250mls. The larger bottle of ONYX that I usually use are 473mls so a little under 2 bottles of acetone additive. I usually decant some into the smaller 4oz bottles to use for wiping stamping equipment to make space for the acetone additive so mine tends to have a little more acetone additive than recommended.
Rexall’s KIT and Shoppers Drug Mart’s Quo have 354mls while Walmart’s Equate acetone is 295mls so you may have to do some math to work out how much acetone additive you need. In a pinch, I buy ridiculously expensive “U” branded acetone from my local convenience store that is exactly 8oz so you could always find an 8oz acetone safe bottle and decant into it if you want the correct amount.
Acetone Additive: Girly Bits OMG Becky, Look at Her Acetone! Ingredients
OMG Becky, Look at Her Acetone! Ingredients: Glycerin, Jojoba oil, Grapeseed oil, purified water, fragrance oil
Peppermint Fluff scent: This is a fun, fluffy fragrance oil that embraces lightheartedness and femininity all in one! A fabulous blend of fresh essential oil of peppermint and huckleberries, hints of violet and white florals, with creamy base notes of vanilla marshmallow. Due to the peppermint essential oil in this blend, your skin will be provided with a slight cool sensation too.
Using pure ONYX acetone without acetone additive, you can see that my nails and cuticles look dry and have white residue. Sure, the residue washes off but while my nails are so weak, I am limiting how often I get them wet and don’t want to have to wash them multiple times if swatching. Plus, the scents make it smell less like paint remover!
Girly Bits OMG Becky, Look at Her Acetone! is available is a choice of scents for $5.